Former Blues forward Shanahan elected to Hockey hall

(KSDK Brendan Shanahan, who spent a memorable four years of his NHL career with the Blues, was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Tuesday.

The former right winger, now in charge of player safety as an NHL vice-president, had the only two 50-goal seasons of his career with St. Louis, in a career that made him the only player to score more than 600 goals (656) and amass more than 2,000 penalty minutes (2,489).

He scored 156 of his 656 career goals while with the Blues.

Shanahan came to St. Louis under controversial circumstances. He was signed as a free agent away from New Jersey, and an arbitrator ruled that cornerstone defenseman Scott Stevens, acquired by the Blues just a year earlier as a free agent, should be awarded to the Devils as compensation for Shanahan's signing.

Despite those circumstances, he quickly made himself a fan favorite with the Blues. Perhaps his most memorable game, one in which he showed his range of skills, came against the old Winnipeg Jets. After being high-sticked by then-Jet Keith Tkachuk, a bloody Shanahan went to the locker room to get stitched up, only to return to score a goal and then pound Tkachuk in retaliation before leaving the ice again, this time to a standing ovation.

On July 27, 1995, Shanahan left the Blues as controversally as he arrived, traded by Mike Keenan to Hartford for a young defenseman named Chris Pronger.

After a year with the Whalers, Shanahan went to Detroit, where he led the Red Wings to three Stanley Cups, their first titles in over 40 years.

Shanahan finished out his career with the Rangers, and then completed the circuit by playing his final season with the Devils.

Former Red Wings teammate Chris Chelios was also voted in, as was forward Scott Niedermayer, late coach Fred Shero, and Geraldine Heaney, a defenseman on the gold medal-winning Canadian hockey team in 2002. She is considered to be one of Canada's greatest female players.